Tag Archives: Philadelphia

Outside of maaaaybe a shot of a rain shower in Philly, the weather seemed to be pretty good for midweek. That slight chance of a shower though was enough to alter the standings. Even though the NWS had a PERFECT temperature forecast (hooray!), their chances of showers on both days was enough to bring them down to 2nd place, as WN won with their dry forecast.

We head off to the City of Brotherly Love today, and let’s see if the weather is just as lovely!

At 1154pm EDT, the temperature in Philadelphia, PA was 57 degrees under overcast skies. There’s an area of high pressure at the surface found over the Great Lakes that’s slowly pushing its way eastward. However, there’s a mid-level disturbance that continues to linger over Southern New England and is dropping southward throughout Wednesday. While some isolated showers are found in the area, they’re dropping southward currently and not expected to affect the city. There could be some morning to midday showers tomorrow over the mountains off to the west while overcast skies continue to linger over Philly. The system should clear out some for Thursday, leading to warmer temperatures, but mostly cloudy skies are still in the cards. It’ll be a few days until a decent system is expected to bring showers to the region, so looks like an enjoyable weekend is on the horizon!

There were waves of flurries across the Appalachians as the weekend began, but with so much of it attempting to climb over the mountains into Philadelphia, the route was too difficult to reach the city of Brotherly Love. Well, that is, it was too difficult until Saturday evening. It was only a quarter inch of snow, but it still counted in our forecast verification. Only one outlet had the snow forecast perfectly managed, and they, Forecast.io, tied with the National Weather Service, who had a solid temperature forecast.
Actuals – Thursday- High 28, Low 21
Friday – .20 inches of snow, High 26, Low 16

We are crisscrossing the country these next two days. Our journey today takes us westbound on a 5 day, 2752 mile trip. The last day will be a little bit longer than the rest, with those 4 days will cover 537 miles thanks to a pace of 67.1 miles. That’s a long trip, but I think it should be very fun.

DAY ONE (Friday)
A broad upper level trough over the Great Lakes will start to find itself later in the day tomorrow, which is bad news for us. Cold air will already be in place as we leave Philly, and make our way into the Appalachians, but as we begin to reach the western faces of those hills, things are going to start going downhill. Well, I mean, the roads will actually literally be downhill, but also, conditions. You know what I mean. From the Pittsburgh area into Ohio, expect the threat for snow to increase and persist all the way to Toledo. It should be light fluff, so the roads won’t be slick, but visibility may be a bit sketchy. Toledo is indeed our stopping point on Friday night.

DAY TWO (Saturday)
As the upper level trough begins to shift to the east, the backfilling northwest flow will produce some lake effect snow. This will really only be relevant over northern Indiana from about South Bend to LaPorte. The chilly air will continue all the way to Geneseo, near the Quad Cities, but the threat for snow will just about be done for the day by the time we hit Chicago. It won’t be nearly as snowy on Saturday as it was on Friday.

DAY THREE (Sunday)
The next clipper will be moving into the northern Plains, oh, at about the exact same time as we will. There is pretty good consensus that we will see snow as we start our day in Geneseo. Moderate snow showers will be possible through Des Moines, which will definitely keep things slow for the first couple hours of the day. Guidance diverges from there. Let’s just say there is a chance for some snow between Des Moines and Omaha, but it will likely be fairly sparse if we see anything at all. Best of all, this is a warm front. Any snow that falls will be wet and may not last long on the ground if it falls at all. The forecast becomes clearer as we trek across Nebraska, We’ll end up in the mostly cloudy Panhandle, stopping at the tiny backwater of Brownson.

DAY FOUR (Monday)
There will be some mountain snow across Wyoming overnight Sunday into Monday, but it will wither away by the time we hit the road. In fact, through most of the day, we should be free and easy, with a pretty manageable trip into the Rockies. There could be some additional snow in southeastern Iowa, but our route will wrap around it into Malta, free of any of the snow that was so close to us through much of this route.

DAY FIVE (Tuesday)
The last day of the trip might be the best one of them all. A ridge will be setting up over the Pacific Northwest, which means great weather through Idaho and the back roads of Oregon. It will be unseasonably warm, and a great way to end a long trip.

Philly has been through the ringer lately. How will it look through the rest of this week?

At 954PM, ET, Philadelphia was reporting a temperature of 31 degrees with mostly cloudy skies with a brisk west wind. We have returned a standing wave pattern, with a dramatic ridge out west and a broad trough in the east. The broader flow is undermined by a sharper trough in the Great Lakes and a weak jet along the Mexican border, ensuring an active pattern despite wavelengths that would seem to inhibit progression.
The wind today is a function of the undercutting trough merging with the broader one off the coast. There is a deep low moving towards the Canadian Maritimes, while there is also a brisk northwesterly flow across the Great Lakes, filling the undercutting trough with Appalachian snow and brining chilly air into the mid-Atlantic. The surface system will shift northeast and away from Philadelphia, leading to a couple of dry days to finish the week, however the undercutting jet will be reinvigorating Friday evening, and will begin the process of inducing cyclogenesis off the Carolina Coast. The end of the day Friday will see the nascent system pulling moisture from the Appalachians southeastward towards Philadelphia. It shouldn’t be able to reach the ground in Philadelphia, but expect clouds to increase late.
Tomorrow – Mostly cloudy, High 27, Low 21
Friday – Increasing clouds late High 28, Low 16

TWC: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy in the morning then becoming cloudy and windy later in the day, High 29, Low 22
Friday – Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 31, Low 18

The high pressure that was supposed to push down into Philadelphia and keep ’em dry for the last couple days… came in exactly as expected! Temperatures warmed up on Wednesday, and with an increased diurnal thanks to mostly clear skies overnight. Vic-WX and WeatherNation tied for the win for the 2nd straight forecast, this time with a measely 3 points each.

This evening is all about Delaware Bay, apparently. Let’s see what’s going on in the city of Brotherly love.

At 1154PM, ET, Philadelphia was reporting a temperature of 65 degrees with overcast skies. There was rain reported from Washington south through the Carolinas in conjunction with a weak circulation embedded within the Gulf Stream. Some of the shower activity is pressing north into the Alleghenies, but it appears that mid level clouds are the primary concern in Philadelphia.
The primary thing that will change the pattern in Philadelphia is a burgeoning ridge of high pressure om Ontario. The surface ridge will sink southeast and suppress the mositure associated with the offshore low. The low will tighten up, allowing high pressure to be augmented in eastern Pennsylvania through midweek, and preventing even the midlayer clouds the region is seeing tonight.
Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, High 74, Low 63
Wednesday – Clearing and warmer, High 79, Low 58

The first real heatwave of the summer was expected over the weekend and for the beginning of this week in the Mid-Atlantic. It didn’t quite reach the expectations of many forecasters on over the weekend in Philadelphia, with temperatures capping at 84 on Sunday and only 80 on Monday. Victoria-Weather correctly anticipated interference with the warm up by nostly cloudy skies, but didn’t correctly envision the rain that would temper those highs. Because of this, the National Weather Service, who was a little warmer with the forecast, ended up claiming the top spot.
Actuals: Saturday, .03 inches of rain/thunderstorms, High 80, Low 60
Sunday – Trace of rain, High 84, Low 67

It’s a busy weekend in the plains, but that doesn’t mean we will ignore what’s going on elsewhere in the country.

At 1254PM, ET, Philadelphia was reporting mostly cloudy skies with a temperature of 80 degrees. A thermal ridge across the east coast promised that the warmth already seen in Philadelphia would continue through the day. The upper level ridge is expected to be a permanent fixture through the weekend.
A handful of systems will conspire to bring Philadelphia some showers on Mother’s Day. Subtropical Storm Ana is working towards the Carolina coast, and will contribute an easterly flow to the mid-Atlantic that will potentially lead to an isolated shower or storm tomorrow afternoon. A system moving towards Labrador is extending a cold front towards New England. It will struggle to bring enough moisture to climb over the mountains, but Sunday does look significantly cloudier than Saturday. It will also work to suppress Ana’s northerly progression, so despite being surrounded, by precipitation, Philadelphia should stay dry on Mother’s Day.
Tomorrow – Isolated thunder, High 82, Low 61
Sunday – Mostly cloudy, High 84, Low 65

The thought was that temperatures would be on the upswing as Monday turned to Tuesday in Philadelphia. It wouldn’t be by much, as there would be some high clouds that rolled into the City of Brotherly Love. Those high clouds were only supposed to mitigate the warm up, but as it turned out, there was no warm up. Temperatures actually dropped from Monday to Tuesday absent the expected solar energy. That meant that forecasters with the least optimistic warm up, as well as a warm Tuesday low were generally rewarded. The Weather Channel got the victory, however, because they were perfect on Monday.
Actuals: Monday – High 43, Low 27
Tuesday – High 40, Low 31

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